In Germany everybody throws away around 220 kilograms of food a year. According to a recent study, this is twice as much as previously assumed. The Zero Waste kitchen has made its goal to produce no waste when cooking and to use as many components of a food product as possible and not to throw anything away. Especially due to a lack of knowledge or cooking exclusively according to a recipe, food waste often remains in the form of peels, leaves or prepared spit. However, many stalks or leaves, for example carrot greens, can still be used to prepare wonderful dishes.
At KÊMI, we try to use the parts of food that are not or no longer suitable for eating for dyeing, in order to reduce food waste and garbage. We do not see this food waste as waste, but rather as an important resource for our dyeing processes. We want to use food waste consciously, recycle it and give it a "second life" and thus set a visible sign against food and water waste.
Even those parts of food that are not edible, such as onion peels or avocado skins, do not have to end up in the trash immediately. Even food that has gone bad (old red cabbage leaves) or food that has already been used (coffee grounds) can be processed further and used again for dyeing. The list of food scraps that can be used for dyeing is long: turmeric peels, pomegranate peels, coffee and tea grounds, red cabbage leaves (although not too durable), brown and red onion peels...
And the best thing about it - for this dyeing material, there is no need to grow and water dyeing plants, no need for trees to lose their leaves and flowers to give their blossoms - dyeing with food scraps is by far the most sustainable way of natural dyeing and also the most respectful and protectiv way of dyeing for our planet Earth!